The "A" in A-Day is now for wAste of time

I now hold it as a point of pride that I saw the last real A-Day at Auburn.  I believe it was 1988 when I was still a student at Auburn.  Starting quarterback Reggie Slack was tiptoeing down the sidelines trying to pick up some extra yardage when starting safety and big hit man Carlo Cheatum just laid him out knocking him out of the game.  Yes I understand the stupidity of getting your quarterback hurt in a scrimmage game and so on but I also know that whenever a football player steps between the lines even wearing a no-contact jersey there is a chance he gets hurt.  I also would like to see an A-Day that somewhat resembles a real game.  Those days are long gone.

Now I will recognize that the 2011 Auburn squad is a special case.  After losing a whopping 35 players in the offseason for various reasons this Auburn team is about as thin as it gets and can ill afford to get any player on the two-deep hurt.  Everyone knew that no critical starter would play past the first or second series.  However not getting to watch anyone but walk-ons play a substantial part of the game is just part of the problem.  The other part is the ridiculously vanilla play calling.  Coach Gus Malzahn verified this fact again stating after the game that they did not want to show any of our opponents anything.

Again I understand what he is saying and after watching the lengths those who hate Auburn will go (see my last post) he definitely has a legitimate point.  However I think he needs to take it a little further.  After watching the lengths certain Bama interests will go to attack Auburn there is no doubt in my mind that they can get video of any closed practice.  Heck they probably have a "sleeper agent" as one of the team managers.  Anybody who thinks I am exaggerating has not been paying attention.  With that in mind I think Auburn might be better off calling some crazy stuff to make it harder for future opponents to prepare for us by giving them a lot to think about.

The main point is that if we cannot get anyone hurt and we cannot show anybody anything, what is the point of playing the game?  I guess it is to give about 50,000 people a reason to come to Auburn, tailgate on hopefully a nice day and spend money.  Mission accomplished I guess on that front. 

As for the "quarterback race" that has been the media storyline for the game, I think Barrett Trotter is the clear starter.  I do not think it is a race.  Trotter looked great last A-Day and I do not think anything has changed other than the one quarterback on our roster better than him has left.  He has looked poised and unafraid every time he has come into a game.  This comes from a guy who was never a fan of Trotter before I saw him play.  Hopefully Moseley will be a capable backup and maybe Kiehl Frazier will be good enough to get in and add something in the fall.

As for the rest of the team, other than some minor shuffling most of the starting lineup is set simply because we do not have many players.  There might be some freshmen that come in and add some depth in the fall but that is about it.  The 2011 season will probably be a tough one but no matter what they will be the defending SEC and National Champions.